Risk factors for intraoperative femoral fractures during total hip replacement

Intraoperative femoral fractures are a serious complication of total hip replacement. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the risk factors of intraoperative femoral fractures in a retrospective analysis of a series of 3,566 total hip replacements.

The patients were divided into two groups, A and B. Group A patients had no intraoperative femoral fractures and Group B patients had intraoperative femoral fractures. In Group A there were 3,483 patients (97.7%) and in Group B, 83 (2.3%). The following potential risk factors were evaluated: sex, age, diagnosis, previous surgery at the homolateral hip, surgical approach, fixation type of the femoral component, prosthesis type, surgical stage during which the fracture occurred, and the lead operating surgeon.

The fracture incidence was higher in females (p < 0.005) in uncemented femoral components (p = 0.005), in patients who had previous surgery at the homolateral hip (p < 0.005), and in revision surgery (p < 0.005).

The analysis of intraoperative femoral fracture risk factors should allow the surgeon to improve the surgical performance and therefore reduce the incidence of this severe intraoperative complication.